I did this drawing in Rome. It was done in the Monti section of town. The little side street to the right of the fountain ran smack into the Colosseum which loomed large one block away. In the old days, all the kids hanging out at this fountain smoking, eating pizza, and talking on their iPhones would have been busy being fed to the lions.
Piazza Navona
My wife and I recently went on a Roman holiday. I sat and drew a statue that’s part of the Bernini fountain in Piazza Navona. The rest of the drawings I did of statues in separate churches I was exploring. As I was sketching, there was a tap on my shoulder. The police. I seem to always break some regulation. Now what? They spoke no English so we couldn’t communicate too well. One polizia officer was saying something like, “tutti straordinario” which I guess meant, no squirrels near the fountain. They started laughing at me and walked away. I then met my wife in one of the square’s cafes. I was finishing up my drawing when the waiter asked to see my book. He yelled for the other waiters to come over. They passed around my sketchbook while he loudly declared that I was as good as Michelangelo. The Italians and I are copacetic.
Postcard 2
This is my second postcard for the Brassworks Gallery postcard show. It’s a drawing of a poor mackerel whose life was ended so it could be stuffed into a can surrounded by tomato sauce. The big brand name is Geisha because these particular mackerel are from the seas of Japan. Somehow I thought it would make for an interesting postcard. Show opens december 9th in Portland, Oregon. Get on their mailing list to see the show online when it opens and maybe buy an original art postcard for yourself.
Baby Boy
When Yun and I were in Ireland, we visited my cousin Jack and his wife Orfhlaith (pronounced Orla). The Irish love when yanks stumble over trying to pronounce their wildly spelled names. They have a new son. Many of you may have seen my recent baby drawing that I posted. He was from our friends in London. This is a different baby drawing. I actually drew this guy first. Not sure why I’m doing all the baby boy drawings of late. I must be getting sentimental. This guy stared at me suspiciously all day. Can’t say I blame him.
Brassworks Gallery
I have been invited by the marvelous Brassworks Gallery in Portland, Oregon to participate in their Postcards Show which will open in December. I’m never really invited to play in reindeer games but this gallery is run by the incomparable, Undergroundrobin. She has always been very supportive of my work. It’s an amazing gallery with a roster of the world’s great heavyweight artists. I did two more postcards which I’ll post as the show gets closer to opening.
Prospect Park Tree
I forced myself to go to Prospect Park and draw this tree. I wanted to be a bit lazy but I got on the train anyway with my drawing stuff and strolled until I found this tree which looked not so easy to draw. Even when I’m not in the mood, I always try to bring my A game. Sometimes drawing is like being in a band that plays the same set list every night over and over on the road. It’s easy to phone it in once in a while. My nervous body and brain don’t allow for that. If only.
Baby
I’m not sure if anyone out there is familiar with my sensitive side. It is kept well hidden. Recently, when my wife and I were in London, we visited with our friends who recently welcomed a new baby boy. I took a few photos thinking maybe one would make for a good drawing. I never know if these types of illustrations will come out good or not. It’s a crap shoot. This one happened to come out quite excellent. I even shocked myself along with the surprised mother who was not expecting this in the mail.
Saint Augustin
This was the view out the window of our AirBNB in Paris. It happened to be the Church of Saint Augustin looming above the rooftops.
Paris Cafe Sketching
While staying in an AirBNB in Paris, there was a book of fashion photographs on the coffee table. I knew I didn’t have much time to do any urban sketching while on this jaunt, so each morning I would do a bit of scribbling into my Moleskine from photos in the book. I added some extra images while drawing in cafes on the street. This is what I cobbled together.
Jean-Christophe
Here’s another drawing I did from a photograph I took while Jean-Chrisophe Defline was walking my wife and I around Paris. I only snapped a handful images but I ended up doing three illustrations from those few. I thought maybe I would draw one. Jean-Christophe happens to be visual good luck for moi.
Dingy
Haven’t done a painting in quite a while. I specifically took this photograph at my friend, Michael Snow’s dock in Maine for the sole purpose of painting it. Acrylic ink on heavy Arches watercolor paper. My dock companions, two loons gave their eerie bird calls in the early morning while I shot this simple picture. As I began to paint, things quickly went awry. It was not looking the way I intended. My strength as an artist is not surrendering while I’m screwing things up. So, I fought the crummy direction I took the painting in by going over what I’d painted several times. I began to tame the paint and it started to look like something I’m proud of. I gifted it to my cousin, Eileen for her new house in Florida.
Paris Corner
My wife and I have each been to Paris many times, so we don’t go to the traditional tourist spots. The best time we had this trip is when our friend, Jean-Christophe wanders us through his old neighborhoods of childhood. I occasionally snap a picture or two of street corners that catch my eye as we stroll. This drawing doesn’t really resemble the photo I took. I created my own atmosphere and sky, along with inventing a time of day. The drama of this illustration is all a fiction.
Postcards
On a recent trip to Europe, we hit London, Paris, and Ireland. I had no time to do any real street drawing because we were booked solid. I’ve come up with my own strategy whereby I sketch little objects in people’s homes, on trains, planes and AirBNBs when I have spare minutes. The faces were from framed historic photographs hanging in the Shannon Airport lounge area. In the end, I managed to squeak out an interesting double page spread in my Moleskine.
